Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 99:394 (Apr 1942)
Article: The Person of the Holy Spirit Part 9 The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Believer
Author: John F. Walvoord

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The Person of the Holy Spirit
Part 9
The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Believer

John F. Walvoord

(Continued from the January-March Number, 1942)

[Author’s Note: The present article continues the study of the work Of the Holy Spirit in the believer begun in the last issue, with consideration of the subject of spiritual gifts.]

{Editor’s note: Footnotes in the original printed edition were numbered 11–13, but in this electronic edition are numbered 1–3 respectively.}

II. The Work of the Holy Spirit in Filling the Believer

From the standpoint of practical value to the individual Christian, no field of doctrine relating to the Holy Spirit is more vital than the subject of the filling of the Spirit. It has been greatly neglected in the average theology, along with other practical applications of doctrine. The doctrine of the filling of the Spirit demands in addition to theological knowledge an experimental understanding of the truth. It is necessary to bear in mind the important foundation laid in the delineation of the other ministries of the Holy Spirit, and upon this foundation to erect the grand structure of living experience entirely in keeping with the doctrine of the Scriptures on this truth. Many have been the attempts to explain the doctrine without a proper understanding of its background in the baptism, indwelling, regeneration, and sealing of the Spirit. Some have ignored the teachings of Scripture in favor of conclusions based on experience alone. The task before us is to expound this doctrine in the light of the Scriptures accounting as well for the varied phenomena of Christian experience. The subject is here treated from three standpoints: (1) the nature of the filling of the Holy Spirit; (2) the conditions for the filling of the Holy Spirit; (3) the results of the filling of the Holy Spirit.

1. The Nature of the Filling of the Holy Spirit.

A careful study of the nature of the filling of the Holy Spirit will reveal that it is the source of all vital spiritual experience in the life of the Christian. As such it is sharply

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distinguished from experience which precedes salvation, such as conviction, and is distinct from salvation itself, with all the attendant ministries of the Spirit. The facts that sustain these conclusions are found in the Scriptural representation of the filling of the Holy Spirit, including its conditions and results.

a. The Diversity of Spiritual Experience.

There is no experimental fact more abundantly sustained in the Scriptures than the wide diversity of spiritual experience. As Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer has well written in the opening word...